No safety measures at sites

The movement of pedestrians beneath under-construction Moghbazar-Mouchak flyover in the capital has become riskier as incidents of the fall of construction materials like rods and brick chips have become rampant due to a lack of safety measures.

Even, the construction workers have to work at construction sites risking their lives due to a lack of public safety measures like enclosures, scaffolding and fencing as those are allegedly ignored by the authorities concerned.

Besides, workers are not made to wear personal safety gears like helmet (hard hat), special boots and retroreflective vest, which are mandatory for a construction worker as per standard safety guidelines.

Rabbi Ahmed Emon, a construction worker of the Moghbazar-Mouchak flyover, suffered multiple injuries when an iron rod fell on his head at the construction site near Eskaton on March 16 last. He was rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where doctors declared him dead. Emon was not wearing any safety gear when the accident took place.

Earlier on April 4 in 2015, construction workers Asaduzzaman, 18, his brother Majedul, 16, and several others, including Majur Hossain, were working at the flyover at Moghbazar crossing.

Suddenly, a bus of “Provati Banasree Paribahan” ploughed through them as its driver lost his control over the steering. Both the siblings died on the spot while Majur suffered severe injuries.

SM Piyal Ahmed, a Cosmos Group staff, sustained injuries as construction materials fell on him from the under-construction flyover in front of Fortune Shopping Mall at Mouchak crossing on December 22. With head injuries, Piyal received treatment at nearby Dr Sirajul Islam Medical College Hospital.

Like Piyal, many pedestrians are receiving injuries while passing through the construction sites of the flyover.

Visiting the site from Malibagh to Shantinagar, the news agency correspondents found that workers were working without wearing helmets, special boots and retroreflective vests. No public safety gears like enclosures or fencing were found there and they were working on the busy road risking their lives. The Local Government Engineering Department has been implementing the Moghbazar-Mouchak flyover. The project drew huge criticisms from experts for its implementation with half a dozen gross flaws without mandatory approval of the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority.

“We've supplied safety equipment to workers asking them to wear those during work. But, they often don't use those terming those heavy,” said Project Director of Moghbazar-Mouchak Flyover Project Sushanto Kumar Paul.

Noting that the management is very much concerned about the safely of workers and passersby, he regretted that they had not been able to ensure safety for them in many cases during the construction work in a busy city like Dhaka.

But, Sushanto said they are trying their best to ensure the safety of both workers and city commuters during the implementation of the flyover project.

Advocate Syed Mahbubul Alam, secretary of Centre for Law and Policy Affairs, said it is the responsibility of the city corporations to ensure safety of passersby during any development work being implemented in the city, but nobody takes the issue into account.

He suggested that the city corporations form a special team to monitor weather project managements take safety measures or not.

On March 30 last, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated a two-km first part, stretching from Saatrasta intersection to Shaheed Captain Mansur Ali Avenue (Moghbazar), of the 8.7-km Mouchak-Moghbazar flyover.